Juxtapoz 15th Anniversary Art Auction: Chet Zar

“When I start a painting, I let my intuition lead the way, just like when I was a kid, sketching without an obvious purpose, lost in a world of monsters. It felt like home then and it still does now.

The characters I paint may seem like creatures from another dimension, but I think they are simply us, here and now. Modern humanity without its masks, without the adornments that make us acceptable to whatever group we are a part of. From the straight-laced conservative to the tattooed, anti-social rebel, we all cover up to fit in someplace. Yet the only place where we are truly the same is on the inside. We all share feelings of fear and loneliness. We feel ugly and insecure. We feel separate from our environment and each other. These are the feelings that I try to convey in my paintings. These are the feelings that connect us.”